1 Jan 22

Happy New Year to all our readers

Priorslee Lake and The Flash

11.0°C > 12.0°C again: Still mild again. Patchy early cloud: more cloudy later. Moderate SW wind. Very good visibility.

Sunrise: 08:22 GMT still

* = a photo today

Priorslee Lake: 06:55 – 09:30

(1st visit of the year)

A very busy morning!

Bird notes:
- Several 'regular' species that had been absent for a while put in an appearance:
- a drake Gadwall was my first since 26 December
- my previous Great Crested Grebe was a one-day visit by an individual on 17 November: prior to that the last resident was seen on 8 November.
- a Grey Heron flew low over: my first here since 7 December
- I had not seen a Woodcock since 17 December when one flew S across the W end scrub at 07:25

Other notes:
- The Mute Swans ignored the Canada Geese when they arrived and all stayed close to each other.
- Many Wood Pigeons on the move. A group of at least 150 flew E; another 17 flew E later; 64 flew W in two groups; and about 65 flew N together.
- Two Lapwings appeared overhead briefly at 09:05.
- A Peregrine Falcon flew E scattering Wood Pigeons at 08:30.
- The first three Black-headed Gulls decided to get up early for the New Year and arrived after 07:30: at least 750 today.
- Very unusually a Great Black-backed Gull lumbered over with a few of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- The Cetti's Warbler sang once alongside the Wesley Brook bridge. I did not hear it again.
- A group of eight Starlings flew over – my first for several weeks. They were so low that I did wonder whether they had left a roost around the lake but I think it was too late in the morning.
- One Mistle Thrush and four Song Thrushes were singing this morning.
- A mixed group of six Fieldfare and eight Redwings flew SW. Six more Redwings were in the trees later.

Overhead:
- 3 Stock Doves: duo and single
- >375 Wood Pigeons
- 2 Lapwings
- 1 Great Black-backed Gull
- 7 Herring Gulls
- 20 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron
- 1 Peregrine
- 122 Jackdaws
- 8 Starlings
- 6 Fieldfare
- 8 Redwings
- 1 Pied Wagtail
- 1 Siskin

Birds seen leaving roost sites around the lake:

None

- the Magpie roost is now quite difficult to census as they no longer mostly assemble on a single post-roost tree but scatter in all directions from a more dispersed roost. It is however much smaller than the 80+ it reached several years ago.

Warblers noted:
- 1 Cetti's Warbler again

Counts from the lake area:
- 9 Canada Geese: arrived as six and three
- 2 + 3 (1) Mute Swans
- 1 (1♂) Gadwall
- 9 (6♂) Mallard
- 19 (12♂) Tufted Duck
- 7 Moorhens
- 37 Coots
- 1 Great Crested Grebe
- >750 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Herring Gulls again
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 2 Cormorants: arrived singly

On and around the lamps:
Rather more wind seemed to discourage too much

Moths:
- 1 female Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata): much higher up the same lamp pole than yesterday

Also:
- 1 probable Tephritis neesii, species of picture-winged or wing-waving fly
- 1 barkfly, just possibly Philotarsus picicornis

Spiders / Harvestmen:

None

Otherwise:
- 1 Grey Squirrel.

My 2022 bird log in species order:
Robin, Song Thrush, Wood Pigeon, Pied Wagtail, Blackbird, Magpie, Coot, Mute Swan, Jackdaw, Wren, Mallard, Moorhen, Tufted Duck, Woodcock, Black-headed Gull, Dunnock, Herring Gull, Gadwall, Cetti's Warbler, Carrion Crow, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Reed Bunting, Great Crested Grebe, Canada Goose, Stock Dove, Blue Tit, Starling, Siskin, Fieldfare, Redwing, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Chaffinch, Peregrine, Great Black-backed Gull, Cormorant, Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Lapwing, Coal Tit, Mistle Thrush - 41 species

There was almost a sunrise this morning.

These six Canada Geese dropped in...

Soon joined by three more who stayed a short distance apart. The Mute Swans more or less ignored them.

The local Mistle Thrush in song. Note the pale edging to the primary coverts. Note also that the spots are rounded, though some are fused together.

Compare the look of the spots on the Mistle Thrush above with this Song Thrush taken at The Flash. He was never coming out in to the open. And, no, it is not wearing leg muffs, they are out-of-focus Alder catkins in the foreground!

If you want to see a (small) fly with well-marked wings here is a fantastic example. It seems to be one of the Tephritidae (picture-winged or wing-waving flies). It closely matches Tephritis neesii which is associated with Ox-eye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) which I see in the area.

It is an amazing insect. There is a PhD for someone to investigate how such markings give this insect an evolutionary advantage.

This is a struggle to see and I am not 100% sure whether it is a fly or something else. It is tiny: it seems to have a banded body with wings that are dotted around the margins. It may just possibly be the barkfly Philotarsus picicornis.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:35 – 10:20

(1st visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- Most ducks in fewer numbers: perhaps spooked by New Year's fireworks?
- Against this trend a pair of Teal re-appeared

Birds noted flying over here:
- 5 Feral Pigeons

On /around the water:
- 12 Canada Geese
- 3 + 2 (1 brood) Mute Swans
- 38 (23♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white duck (Aylesbury Duck)
- 2 (1♂) Teal
- no Pochard
- 43 (20♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 (0♂) Goosander only
- 12 Moorhens
- 25 Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 61 Black-headed Gulls
- 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 1 Cormorant
- 1 Grey Heron

On the street lamps:

Nothing on any of them

Elsewhere
- The White Dead-Nettle (Lamium album) flowers stagger on to the new year.

My 2022 bird log in species order:
Magpie, Wood Pigeon, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Canada Goose, Robin, Song Thrush, Coot, Great Tit, Black-headed Gull, Mute Swan, House Sparrow, Moorhen, Carrion Crow, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Pied Wagtail, Blue Tit, Great Crested Grebe, Blackbird, Teal, Dunnock, Wren, Goosander, Collared Dove, Feral Pigeon, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Chaffinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker - 29 species

As noted the White Dead-Nettle (Lamium album) remains in flower. Note there is another cluster waiting to open.

(Ed Wilson)

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On this day can be found via the yearly links in the right-hand column.

Sightings from previous years without links are below

2013

Priorslee Lake

Drake Scaup still showing well off dam

1 adult Yellow-legged Gull

21 Great Black-backed Gulls

(John Isherwood and Rob Stokes)

2011

Priorslee Lake

Tawny Owl heard - 2nd ever record 

(Ed Wilson)

2010

Priorslee Lake

About 30% ice.

Best bird remains the Black-necked Grebe.

Big gull roost:

c.3000 Black-headed Gulls

c.1000 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

1 adult Yellow-legged Gull

1 3rd winter Great Black-backed Gull

(Ed Wilson and John Isherwood)